Stakeout Media Availability with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senator John Cornyn After Viewing Photographs of Abuse of Iraqi Detainees

Federal News Service

HEADLINE: STAKEOUT MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R-TX) AND SENATOR JOHN CORNYN (R-TX) AFTER VIEWING PHOTOGRAPHS OF ABUSE OF IRAQI DETAINEES

LOCATION: THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.

BODY:
SEN. HUTCHISON: Let me just say that I think it was the right thing --

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. HUTCHISON: I think it was the right thing for the Department of Defense to open these pictures to members of the Senate. And they are many repetitive pictures that have already been in the public sector, and then there are others.

And I have to say that it is very important that we realize that the Department of Defense is under an active investigation. There will be courts martial, and there's a lot yet to be discovered.

So these will not be the property of the Senate. They will go back to the Pentagon at 5:00 this afternoon, and the decision will be made by the Department of Defense, based on the need for the pictures to be a part of a prosecution, rights of privacy of people in the pictures and other factors, to make the decision about whether to make them public.

SEN. CORNYN: I know Senator Hutchison's a little bit hoarse, so let me-basically, I agree with everything she said. But the truth is, most of these pictures, virtually all we saw, are redundant of what's already in the public domain.

But I agree with her that the Department of Defense should maintain custody of these pictures because, number one, they need to protect the integrity of an ongoing criminal investigation. And we need to make sure that nothing inhibits the ability of the prosecutor to make sure that the guilty are convicted and that justice is done.

And secondly, there are issues related to the privacy rights of those involved in some of the pictures that have nothing to do with the ongoing investigation but which may be intermingled among other pictures.

And so I agree that there is nothing to be gained, and there is-to publicly release the pictures now, even if we could-which we can't, because they're in the custody of the Department of Defense, and there are a lot of reasons for the Senate to exercise restraint when it comes to the public dissemination of what will be evidence in ongoing criminal prosecutions.

(Cross talk.)

Q Senator, just wondering-can you tell us what -- (off mike) -- different type -- (off mike)?

SEN. CORNYN: I think it's more the same-of what we've already seen, as reprehensible and regrettable as that is. Additionally, there were some other pictures that don't appear to have anything to do with the investigation, involving interaction between our own troops, but not involving any Iraqis.

Q Senator Inouye said --

Q (Off mike) -- military intelligence -- (off mike) -- in the pictures that you saw?

SEN. CORNYN: They weren't identified.

Q Senator Inouye said that some of the pictures were much worse than what we've seen. (Off mike.)

SEN. CORNYN: That's his opinion. They were bad. They're all bad. I don't know how you-you know, what the scale is of bad to worse, but they're all bad.

Q After having -- (off mike).

SEN. HUTCHISON: Oh, yes, there were some different pictures. The Department of Defense took all of the pictures from all of these different cameras and put them into one big disc. So there are intermittent pictures of people that have nothing to do with prison abuse, even some pictures that were not in the prison.

So I think talking about wholesale releasing of them-there are many considerations, including privacy of people not connected in any way. So I think there has to be a discernment among the pictures. Yes, there were some that were worse. A lot of them were what you've seen, which are pretty terrible, and some that are just irrelevant.

Q After seeing all of the pictures --

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. HUTCHISON: Probably 1,200 pictures.

STAFF: Thank you.

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. HUTCHISON: That was not --

Q That was not -- (off mike)?

SEN. HUTCHISON: No.

STAFF: Thank you very much.

Q Senator, after seeing all the pictures, did this appear to you that these things were things done by people of lower military rank, or that there's a possibility that this goes up the line?

SEN. HUTCHISON: You really can't tell from the pictures. The pictures clearly are people who are guards, and in some cases people not even in the military, just commingled. But what their rank was would be impossible to tell.

STAFF: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.